-
International Journal of Ophthalmology 2023Adequate near and intermediate visual capacity is important in performing everyday tasks, especially after the introduction of smartphones and computers in our... (Review)
Review
Adequate near and intermediate visual capacity is important in performing everyday tasks, especially after the introduction of smartphones and computers in our professional and recreational activities. Primary objective of this study was to review all available reading tests both conventional and digital and explore their integrated characteristics. A systematic review of the recent literature regarding reading charts was performed based on the PubMed, Google Scholar, and Springer databases between February and March 2021. Data from 11 descriptive and 24 comparative studies were included in the present systematic review. Clinical settings are still dominated by conventional printed reading charts; however, the most prevalent of them (, Jaeger type charts) are not validated. Reliable reading capacity assessment is done only by those that comply with the International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) recommendations. Digital reading tests are gaining popularity both in clinical and research settings and are differentiated in standard computer-based applications that require installation either in a computer or a tablet (, Advanced VISION Test and web-based ones , Democritus Digital Acuity Reading Test requires no installation). It is evident that validated digital tests will prevail in future clinical or research settings and it is upon ophthalmologists to select the one most compatible with their examination routine.
PubMed: 36659955
DOI: 10.18240/ijo.2023.01.18 -
Cerebellum (London, England) Jun 2024Spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) are a heterogenous group of rare neurodegenerative conditions sharing an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance. More than 40 SCAs have... (Review)
Review
Spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) are a heterogenous group of rare neurodegenerative conditions sharing an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance. More than 40 SCAs have been genetically determined. However, a systematic review of SCA epidemiology in Europe is still missing. Here we performed a narrative review of the literature on the epidemiology of the most common SCAs in Europe. PubMed, Embase, and MEDLINE were searched from inception until 1 April 2023. All English peer-reviewed articles published were considered and then filtered by abstract examination and subsequently by full text reading. A total of 917 original articles were retrieved. According to the inclusion criteria and after reviewing references for useful papers, a total of 35 articles were included in the review. Overall, SCA3 is the most frequent spinocerebellar ataxia in Europe. Its frequency is strikingly higher in Portugal, followed by Germany, France, and Netherlands. None or few cases were described in Italy, Russia, Poland, Serbia, Finland, and Norway. SCA1 and SCA2 globally displayed similar frequencies, and are more prevalent in Italy, United Kingdom, Poland, Serbia, and France.
Topics: Humans; Spinocerebellar Ataxias; Europe; Prevalence
PubMed: 37698771
DOI: 10.1007/s12311-023-01600-x -
International Journal of Cardiology.... Feb 2023The scope of this systematic review is to update the existing body of evidence regarding the cost-effectiveness of transcatheter aortic valve implantation, stratified... (Review)
Review
OBJECTIVE
The scope of this systematic review is to update the existing body of evidence regarding the cost-effectiveness of transcatheter aortic valve implantation, stratified across all risk categories, and to assess their methodological quality.
METHODS
A systematic review was performed including published cost-effectiveness analyses of heart valve implantations. The quality was assessed with the Quality of Health Economics Tool.
RESULTS
We identified 33 economic evaluations of transcatheter aortic heart valve implantations. Results were not consistent, ranging from dominant to dominating. Moreover, the models were sensitive to an array of variables. The methodological quality of the studies was good.
CONCLUSION
This systematic review led to inconclusive and inconsistent results pertinent to the economic profile of TAVI technology. It also highlighted areas which merit further research regarding the pillars of cost-effectiveness analysis such as modeling, the extrapolation of available data and the uncertainty of the evidence. A thorough assessment of the patient should proceed any decision-making.
PubMed: 36747880
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijcha.2023.101173 -
Biology of Sport Mar 2021Although many studies on collective tactical behaviour have been published in the last decade, no study has revised and summarized the findings provided for futsal. The... (Review)
Review
Although many studies on collective tactical behaviour have been published in the last decade, no study has revised and summarized the findings provided for futsal. The main aim of this systematic review was to identify and discuss the geometrical centre (GC), distance and area tactical variables used to assess team behaviour in futsal. In addition, it summarizes the findings on the tactical response during futsal competition and training. A systematic review of the relevant articles provided on futsal was carried out using seven electronic databases (SPORTDiscus, ProQuest, Cochrane Plus, Scopus, Google Scholar, PubMed and Web of Science) until September 25, 2019. From a total of 1,209 studies initially found, 12 were included in the qualitative synthesis. There were some trends in the analysis of positional data in futsal with the most relevant situations analysed being 1 vs 1 and 5 vs 4+Goalkeeper. The distances and angles between two points were the most assessed tactical variables. Five types of distance variables were used to assess collective tactical behaviour in futsal: GC-GC, GC-player, player-player, player-ball and player-space. Pressure (GC-GC) was greater in shots on goal than in tackles during professional futsal matches. Area variables were reduced to occupied space, exploration space and dominant area. Occupied space was measured only during competition while the dominant area was measured only during training sessions. The surface area and dominant regions were greater when players were attacking in comparison to when they were defending. In addition, two non-linear techniques (i.e. relative phase and entropy) were applied to analyse synchronisation and complexity and regularity or predictability. Defenders were highly synchronous, while attackers tried to break this coordination to achieve possibilities for action. Task constraints are suitable to induce different regularity patterns. This review is an opportunity to develop studies aimed at bridging the gap in collective tactical behaviour in futsal.
PubMed: 33795913
DOI: 10.5114/biolsport.2020.96321 -
Sports Medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) Oct 2016The ability to monitor training load accurately in professional sports is proving vital for athlete preparedness and injury prevention. While numerous monitoring... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
The ability to monitor training load accurately in professional sports is proving vital for athlete preparedness and injury prevention. While numerous monitoring techniques have been developed to assess the running demands of many team sports, these methods are not well suited to throwing-dominant sports that are infrequently linked to high running volumes. Therefore, other techniques are required to monitor the differing demands of these sports to ensure athletes are adequately prepared for competition.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the different methodologies used to quantitatively monitor training load in throwing-dominant sports.
METHODS
A systematic review of the methods used to monitor training load in throwing-dominant sports was conducted using variations of terms that described different load-monitoring techniques and different sports. Studies included in this review were published prior to June 2015 and were identified through a systematic search of four electronic databases including Academic Search Complete, CINAHL, Medline and SPORTDiscus. Only full-length peer-reviewed articles investigating workload monitoring in throwing-dominant sports were selected for review.
RESULTS
A total of 8098 studies were initially retrieved from the four databases and 7334 results were removed as they were either duplicates, review articles, non-peer-reviewed articles, conference abstracts or articles written in languages other than English. After screening the titles and abstracts of the remaining papers, 28 full-text papers were reviewed, resulting in the identification of 20 articles meeting the inclusion criteria for monitoring workloads in throwing-dominant sports. Reference lists of selected articles were then scanned to identify other potential articles, which yielded one additional article. Ten articles investigated workload monitoring in cricket, while baseball provided eight results, and handball, softball and water polo each contributed one article. Results demonstrated varying techniques used to monitor workload and purposes for monitoring workload, encompassing the relationship between workload and injury, individual responses to workloads, the effect of workload on subsequent performance and the future directions of workload-monitoring techniques.
CONCLUSION
This systematic review highlighted a number of simple and effective workload-monitoring techniques implemented across a variety of throwing-dominant sports. The current literature placed an emphasis on the relationship between workload and injury. However, due to differences in chronological and training age, inconsistent injury definitions and time frames used for monitoring, injury thresholds remain unclear in throwing-dominant sports. Furthermore, although research has examined total workload, the intensity of workload is often neglected. Additional research on the reliability of self-reported workload data is also required to validate existing relationships between workload and injury. Considering the existing disparity within the literature, it is likely that throwing-dominant sports would benefit from the development of an automated monitoring tool to objectively assess throwing-related workloads in conjunction with well-established internal measures of load in athletes.
Topics: Athletic Injuries; Humans; Physical Conditioning, Human; Sports; Workload
PubMed: 27071991
DOI: 10.1007/s40279-016-0529-6 -
Frontiers in Neurology 2021Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is projected to have a rapid increase in the number of people living with dementia by 2050. Yet, there is currently no robust evidence on the...
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is projected to have a rapid increase in the number of people living with dementia by 2050. Yet, there is currently no robust evidence on the risk factors for dementia in the sub-region that could inform context specific interventions. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies to determine the dominant and modifiable risk factors for dementia in SSA. We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsychINFO, and African Journals Online using keywords for dementia and Alzheimer's disease as well as the.mp operator for all 47 SSA countries or regions. We included peer-reviewed original studies with epidemiological designs, conducted random effect meta-analysis and determined the dominant and modifiable risk factors for dementia using the inverse of variance method. A total of 44 studies out of 2,848 met criteria for syntheses. The pooled annual incidence of dementia from 5,200 cohort risk years was 2.0% [(95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 1.0-4.0%)]. The pooled prevalence was 5.0% (95% CI = 2.0-7.0%). Older age was the dominant risk factor for both prevalent [(Standard error (S.E = 0.3, weight = 25.2%)] and incident dementia (S.E = 0.02, weight = 95.8%), while low educational attainment (S.E = 0.19, weight = 32.6%) and poor predementia cognitive functioning at baseline (S.E = 0.2, weight = 20.5%) were the best ranked modifiable risk factor for incident dementia. Low formal educational attainment which, in SSA, may represent a stable index of low socioeconomic position and health disadvantage over the life course, was the most prominent modifiable risk factor for incident dementia. Findings have implications for deliberate policies targeted at access to education across the life course as a primary prevention strategy against dementia in SSA.
PubMed: 33841302
DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2021.627761 -
Quantitative Imaging in Medicine and... Mar 2023Accident and Emergency Department (AED) is the frontline of providing emergency care in a hospital and research focusing on improving decision-makings and service level... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Accident and Emergency Department (AED) is the frontline of providing emergency care in a hospital and research focusing on improving decision-makings and service level around AED has been driving a rising number of attentions in recent years. A retrospective review among the published papers shows that related research can be classified according to six planning modules: demand forecasting, days-off scheduling, shift scheduling, line-of-work construction, task assignment and staff assignment. As patient arrivals demand forecasts enable smooth AED operational planning and help decision-making, this article conducted a systematic review on the statistical modelling approaches aimed at predicting the volume of AED patients' arrival.
METHODS
We carried out a systematic review of AED patient arrivals prediction studies from 2004 to 2021. The Medline, ScienceDirect, and Scopus databases were searched. A two-step screening process was carried out based on the title and abstract or full text, and 35 of 1,677 articles were selected. Our methods and results follow the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. We categorise AED methods for modelling patient arrivals into four main classes: regression, time series, artificial intelligence and time series regression. Choice of prediction model, selection of factors and model performance are compared. Finally, we discuss the advantages and limitations of the models and suggest future research directions.
RESULTS
A total of 1,677 papers that fulfilled the initial searching criteria was obtained from the three databases. Based on the first exclusion criteria, 1,603 articles were eliminated. The remaining 74 full text articles were evaluated based on the second exclusion criteria. Finally, 35 articles were selected for full review. We find that the use of artificial intelligence-based model has risen in recent years, from the view of predictive model selection. The calendar-based factors are most commonly used compared with other types of dependent variables, from the view of dependent variable selection.
CONCLUSIONS
All AEDs are inherently different and different covariables may have different effects on patient arrivals. Certain factors may play a key role in one AED but not others. Based on results of meta-analysis, when modelling patient arrivals, it is essential to understand the actual AED situation and carefully select relevant dominating factors and the most suitable modelling method. Local calibration is also important to ensure good estimates.
PubMed: 36915315
DOI: 10.21037/qims-22-268 -
International Journal of Environmental... Aug 2022This paper presents an ontological review of the global research on access to geriatric disability care and a roadmap for future research to address the problem in... (Review)
Review
This paper presents an ontological review of the global research on access to geriatric disability care and a roadmap for future research to address the problem in India. First, the dominant research focus is on resources (human, financial, and spatial) that affect access to disability care; there is little focus on informational and technological resources. Second, functional disabilities are the dominant focus of the research, followed by cognitive, mental, and locomotor disabilities; there is little focus on speech, hearing, and visual disabilities. Third, barriers, inhibitors, and catalysts of physical access are the dominant focus, with relatively less focus on virtual access; there is very little emphasis on the drivers to access. Fourth, the primary, although not dominant, focus is on access for urban and rural populations; there is very little focus on access for underserved and indigenous populations. Future research must address these gaps systematically to improve access. This paper adds: (a) a systemic framework for the study of an important, complex, emerging problem; (b) a systematic review of the global research on the problem; and (c) a research roadmap to address the emerging problem in India.
Topics: Aged; Disabled Persons; Health Services Accessibility; Humans; India; Rural Population
PubMed: 36011654
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph191610018 -
Expert Review of Cardiovascular Therapy Dec 2020Human African Trypanosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease resulting from the infection with the parasite Trypanosoma brucei. Neurological compromise often dominates,...
INTRODUCTION
Human African Trypanosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease resulting from the infection with the parasite Trypanosoma brucei. Neurological compromise often dominates, and the impact of cardiovascular involvement has not been fully investigated. Recently, publications indicate that cardiovascular compromise is more frequent than previously thought. Early detection of cardiac complications may be of utmost importance for healthcare teams.
AREA COVERED
As a part of the 'Neglected Tropical Diseases and other Infectious Diseases involving the Heart' (the NET-Heart Project), the purpose of this article is to review all the information available regarding cardiovascular implications of this disease, focusing on diagnosis and treatment, and proposing strategies for early detection of cardiac manifestations. An electronic systematic literature review of articles published in MEDLINE, PubMed and EMBASE was performed. From 50 initial studies, 18 were selected according to inclusion criteria. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement was used for conducting and reporting this review.
EXPERT OPINION
Cardiovascular compromise through infiltrative and inflammatory mechanisms seems to be frequent, and includes a wide spectrum of severity. Conventional 12-lead electrocardiogram could be a useful test for screening cardiovascular manifestations and used as a guide for considering specific treatments or more sophisticated diagnostic tools.
Topics: Animals; Electrocardiography; Heart Diseases; Humans; Mass Screening; Trypanosomiasis, African
PubMed: 32967478
DOI: 10.1080/14779072.2020.1828066 -
Biology of Sport Sep 2021In soccer (football), dominant limb kicking produces higher ball velocity and is used with greater frequency than the non-dominant limb. It is unclear whether limb... (Review)
Review
In soccer (football), dominant limb kicking produces higher ball velocity and is used with greater frequency than the non-dominant limb. It is unclear whether limb dominance has an effect on injury incidence. The purpose of this systematic review with meta-analysis is to examine the relationship between limb dominance and soccer injuries. Studies were identified from four online databases according to PRISMA guidelines to identify studies of soccer players that reported lower extremity injuries by limb dominance. Relevant studies were assessed for inclusion and retained. Data from retained studies underwent meta-analyses to determine relative risk of dominant versus non-dominant limb injuries using random-effects models. Seventy-four studies were included, with 36 of them eligible for meta-analysis. For prospective lower extremity injury studies, soccer players demonstrated a 1.6 times greater risk of injury to the dominant limb (95% CI [1.3-1.8]). Grouped by injury location, hamstring (RR 1.3 [95% CI 1.1-1.4]) and hip/groin (RR 1.9 [95% CI 1.3-2.7]) injuries were more likely to occur to the dominant limb. Greater risk of injury was present in the dominant limb across playing levels (amateurs RR 2.6 [95% CI 2.1-3.2]; youths RR 1.5 [95% CI 1.26-1.67]; professionals RR 1.3 [95% CI 1.14-1.46]). Both males (RR 1.5 [95% CI 1.33-1.68)] and females (RR 1.5 [95% CI 1.14-1.89]) were more likely to sustain injuries to the dominant limb. Future studies investigating soccer injury should adjust for this confounding factor by using consistent methods for assigning limb dominance and tracking use of the dominant versus non-dominant limb.
PubMed: 34475623
DOI: 10.5114/biolsport.2021.100265